Advocates providing students more control in the writing assessment process of English classrooms. Describes how two teachers developed methods allowing students participation, individually and in peer groups, in writing assessment. Compares student criteria with Pennsylvania Department of Education criteria. (HB)

Presents an analysis of teachers' perceptions of themselves as writers with the goal of understanding how teachers' writing ability affects their work and qualifications as writing instructors. Places 32 teachers participating in a 3-day inservice writing workshop into 3 separate "identity concepts" (categories) and a fourth miscellaneous group.…

Discusses ways in which technology in the classroom is bound to affect both what and how language arts is taught, as well as the very culture of schooling. Places technological innovations within a historical context and provides a hopeful picture for the future. (RS)

Illustrates the use of an assessment framework for observing, describing, and summarizing objectively a sample of one student's creative writing. The framework considered vocabulary, sentence structure, organization, punctuation, the amount of details, and the use of repetition. (BB)

Questions the creation of publications boards to oversee student publications. Warns against instituting such a board if the goal is to determine the content of student publications, which amounts to censorship. (HB)

Discusses the preparation and empowerment of teachers to engage in transactional strategy instruction. Reviews current research and practice relevant to transactional strategy instruction. Considers students' motivations to learn and cognitive strategy instruction beyond reading and writing. (HB)

Discusses five writing exercises to improve teachers' and students' writing. Suggests using the exercises once a day. (RS)

Studies the currently influential theories about the nature and development of the child. Questions whether these theories usefully inform educational work with specific children in particular locations. Considers how these theories affect writing instruction for children and criticizes their effects on real children. (HB)

Describes the way one English teacher designed a course by asking students to compare articles on the same topic from different newspapers. Claims that teaching such forms of textual analysis is highly motivating and pedagogically useful. (HB)

Reports on the findings of a study that examined the writing behavior of eight fifth graders as they composed original mathematics story problems. Reveals strategies and techniques employed by students to accomplish this task. Analyzes student story-problem writing behavior. (HB)

Compares the competing claims of students' nonschool literacies with the academic literacy as prescribed by schools. Uses two case studies to suggest ways to attend to both kinds of literacy, public and private. (HB)

Presents strategies and methods by which writing teachers can openly address the potential problem of plagiarism. Details specific methods used by one teacher to train students how to quote and cite materials without plagiarizing. (HB)

Describes a project in which students combined personal narratives, drawings, and Japanese woodblock prints. Includes three examples of students' stories and prints. (SR)

Describes four computer-assisted teaching strategies for nonfiction (originally used for teaching fiction). (SR)

Describes a writing assignment in which students write (and send) a letter to a famous person of their choosing. Notes one student's seriousness about the project and the usefulness of peer editing in revising. (SR)